Which Pennsylvania? Procedure
Anticipatory (10 min)
- Distribute Do-Now sheets to students as they enter the classroom.
- Give students five minutes to consider the sheet and write a short reflection.
- Direct students to think pair share reflections on the Do-Now with a neighbor.
- Question: Which would convince most people to drink Coke?
- Call on pairs to share reflections with the class (as time allows).
- Highlight student responses that reveal differences between the rhetorical impact of print and visual sources.
- Remind students to keep the Do-Now in mind.
- Explain that the class will:
- Describe how print and visual sources contribute to histories of Pennsylvania.
- Question the motivations for producing such sources in the eighteenth-century.
Teaching and Modeling / Guided Practice (40 min)
- Project Penn's Treaty with the Indians onto the board accompanied by the following quote.
- Read aloud the following quote from Voltaire’s "Letters on the English Nation":
- "The first step he took was to enter into an alliance with his American [Indian] neighbours, and this is the only treaty between those people and the Christians that was not ratified by an oath, and was never infringed."
- Open class discussion of the painting and quote.
- If needed, answer framing questions: What does this painting depict? What does the quote refer to? Who was Voltaire? Who was Benjamin West?
- If needed, pose questions to prompt discussion: Is this painting and sentiment familiar to you? Have you heard this quote? What is your initial response? What is the overall idea these sources are trying to communicate?
- Encourage students to share their thoughts (as time allows).
- Explain that the class will read an historical article that tells a different story about colonial Pennsylvania—the story of the Paxton Boys.
- Instruct students to use laptops or devices to access Kevin Kenny’s Peaceable Kingdom Lost.
- If pressed for time, or if teaching students at low reading level, assign a visual source, such as The German Bleeds & Bears Ye Furs, in the place of Peaceable Kingdom Lost.
- Upon completion, open class discussion.
- Questions to prompt discussion: Is this story familiar to you? How does it square with the sentiment expressed by the paired image and quote? Why do you think this was written? How do they coexist?
- If needed, emphasize truths in both stories. One story is not true to the complete exclusion of the other.
Independent Work (40 min)
- Distribute assignment sheet to students via Google Drive.
- Call on a student to read assignment sheet aloud. Students will read a primary source document discussing the events from the Peaceable Kingdom Lost. They will answer a series of questions designed to facilitate consideration of overarching questions. Students will submit their responses via Google Drive by the beginning of next class for grading.
Closure & Feedback
Grade student assignments mostly for completion, except in cases where students fail to engage with sources. Provide feedback and follow up questions to prompt further independent inquiry. Solicit student opinions on the assignment for the purpose of instructional reflection.
